It started last week with President Trump’s rant at a meeting with sheriffs where he described unauthorized immigrants as “animals,” as opposed to “people.”

Controversy, naturally, ensued.

On Tuesday, the White House doubled-down on its animal theme. In a statement entitled “What You Need To Know About The Violent Animals Of MS-13,” the White House said members of this LA-born international criminal gang “have committed heinous, violent attacks in communities across America.”

The statement uses the word ”animal” or ”animals” ten times, practically once per paragraph.

Here’s an example:

“Too many innocent Americans have fallen victim to the unthinkable violence of MS-13’s animals.”

Here’s another:

“In Maryland, MS-13’s animals are accused of stabbing a man more than 100 times and then decapitating him, dismembering him, and ripping his heart out of his body. Police believe MS-13 members in Maryland also savagely beat a 15-year-old human trafficking victim. The MS-13 animals used a bat and took turns beating her nearly 30 times in total.”

And another:

“In Houston, Texas, two MS-13 members were charged after kidnapping and sexually assaulting one girl and murdering another. The two MS-13 animals laughed, smiled, and waved for cameras in court as they faced the charges.”

Explaining how “MS-13 is a transnational gang that has brought violence, fear, and suffering to American communities,” the White House goes on to say that “MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha, commits shocking acts of violence to instill fear, including machete attacks, executions, gang rape, human trafficking, and more. In their motto, the animals of MS-13 make clear their goal is to ‘kill, rape, control.’ The gang has more than 10,000 members in the United States spreading violence and suffering.”

Finally, the statement says that recent investigations “have revealed MS-13 gang leaders based in El Salvador have been sending representatives into the United States illegally to connect the leaders with local gang members. These foreign-based gang leaders direct local members to become even more violent in an effort to control more territory.”

Patrick May is an award-winning writer for the Bay Area News Group working with the business desk as a general assignment reporter. Over his 34 years in daily newspapers, he has traveled overseas and around the nation, covering wars and natural disasters, writing both breaking news stories and human-interest features. He has won numerous national and regional writing awards during his years as a reporter, 17 of them spent at the Miami Herald.